The present invention is directed to vehicle decklid control systems, and more particularly to a system that uses a planetary gear drive to move a vehicle decklid relative to a vehicle body.
Vehicle decklids for both trunks and hoods often use four-bar linkages to provide two-dimensional movement (i.e., rotational and translational movement) to the decklid. When designing a four-bar linkage, care must be taken to ensure that the four-bar linkage is strong enough to handle a decklid load. Often, the four-bar linkage requires additional reinforcement, which increases the overall cost of the four-bar linkage.
Further, four-bar linkages use two pin joints to mount the linkage to the vehicle body. These pin joints are also subjected to high load forces, causing the pin joints to wear quickly and have a short lifespan. Although it is possible to design pin joints with an increased lifespan by making the pin joints thicker or sturdier, increasing the strength of the pin joints also induces a great deal of friction in the four-bar linkage. The additional friction is detrimental to the overall performance of the decklid system.
There have been proposed systems that include gear trains driven by an electric motor to move the decklid between open and closed positions and potentially reduce the load applied to the four-bar linkages and the pin joints. However, these systems often require a gear reduction mechanism to drive the links directly, creating a large system package. Moreover, currently known decklid driving systems only provide rotational, circular movement of the decklid and not any translational movement, making it impossible to provide powered operation of the complex, two-dimensional movement provided by four-bar linkages.
There is a desire for a system that operates without a four-bar linkage, and which can provide powered operation of a vehicle decklid in a complex, non-circular motion.